Devon Larratt vs Lex Fridman: How to arm wrestle
Chapters
0:00:56 Basics
1:1 The Post
2:11 Top Roll
3:0 Top Roll the Hook
3:49 Kings Move
00:00:00.000 | Devin Larratt, you son of a bitch.
00:00:02.160 | Thanks for coming.
00:00:03.160 | What's the matter?
00:00:07.080 | MIT got you pushing too many pencils?
00:00:09.840 | All right, you got me.
00:00:11.240 | Now, if I wanted to beat you, what would I do here?
00:00:15.520 | It starts before we even arm wrestle.
00:00:20.240 | It's all postural, really.
00:00:22.680 | So if I can make you come to me,
00:00:26.320 | this is the first step.
00:00:30.040 | Always make me come to you.
00:00:31.240 | Exactly. It lets you use more muscles
00:00:34.440 | against less muscles.
00:00:35.880 | You target weakness, right?
00:00:38.080 | You target my fingertips.
00:00:39.520 | You get to use more muscles.
00:00:40.840 | So you see this ridge?
00:00:42.640 | Yeah.
00:00:43.960 | Very important.
00:00:44.960 | The higher up this ridge is in my hand,
00:00:47.440 | the better.
00:00:48.880 | The more the pressure is in my fingers
00:00:51.560 | as opposed to your fingers, the better.
00:00:53.800 | Right.
00:00:55.720 | What are some basics here that you should know?
00:00:58.800 | Okay, maybe we'll start with a move called the post.
00:01:02.680 | The post, by itself, is not that powerful of a move,
00:01:07.320 | but it's a fantastic opening.
00:01:09.640 | Once you have a post established,
00:01:11.960 | the world completely opens up for you.
00:01:14.080 | The post is very simply
00:01:17.320 | an upwards drive of the knuckles.
00:01:19.880 | And there are also climbs at this point.
00:01:23.400 | Yes, exactly.
00:01:24.400 | And it's all about generating better angles.
00:01:26.560 | That's it.
00:01:28.200 | You're always trying, like if you open up your hand,
00:01:30.480 | you're always trying to get deeper as well.
00:01:32.280 | So you're trying to get deeper and deeper.
00:01:34.880 | Climbing up and over.
00:01:37.160 | Both.
00:01:38.200 | That's it. Advancing that position all the time.
00:01:41.600 | So you're always climbing.
00:01:44.440 | You're always climbing over and up.
00:01:46.720 | That's the goal.
00:01:47.760 | Always climbing, always improving position.
00:01:50.880 | A, B, C.
00:01:52.200 | Always be climbing.
00:01:54.000 | So basically, inside and outside,
00:01:57.560 | that'll be your first division.
00:01:58.560 | So when we're arm wrestling outside,
00:02:01.360 | basically, it's all these pulling motions.
00:02:04.400 | Pulling, pulling.
00:02:06.320 | And to some degree, they all attack the fingers.
00:02:09.880 | Okay.
00:02:11.240 | A standard top roll will look something like this.
00:02:13.840 | I'll start to apply pressure up into the fingers.
00:02:16.160 | I'll start to bend my wrist.
00:02:19.040 | And as I'm bending my wrist,
00:02:20.840 | you will be attempting to bend your wrist
00:02:22.760 | and I will block you with something called pronation,
00:02:25.080 | which is this turning.
00:02:26.760 | And I'll carry through the fingers
00:02:28.400 | and I'll take you all the way to the pin pad
00:02:30.600 | through the fingertips.
00:02:31.640 | It's a fantastic move for beating people.
00:02:35.200 | It's one of the best techniques in arm wrestling, the top roll.
00:02:38.080 | Most world champions, I would say,
00:02:40.680 | I'd say most use top roll.
00:02:43.240 | Yeah.
00:02:44.880 | I also seen you compliment somebody that,
00:02:46.800 | you know, it's not over here yet.
00:02:49.920 | No.
00:02:50.960 | You can hold some of the strongest people in the world like this.
00:02:53.800 | And that's, I think you were complimenting somebody
00:02:56.160 | that they were able to do that against.
00:02:57.480 | Yeah.
00:02:58.520 | Another way to talk about arm wrestling,
00:02:59.560 | so we started to touch on like the top roll,
00:03:02.040 | the hook.
00:03:03.440 | So a hook is basically
00:03:05.080 | wrist flexor driven.
00:03:07.200 | Right. So it's more about attacking the person's pronation.
00:03:11.200 | So you establish a hook
00:03:12.640 | and then you can pull out of it
00:03:15.000 | or you make it more of a press
00:03:17.120 | and it's more shoulders coming right forward
00:03:19.600 | and you're coming right in on the person.
00:03:21.480 | Okay.
00:03:22.600 | So hooking and pressing are,
00:03:24.120 | all the moves in arm wrestling are similar.
00:03:26.360 | Okay. Just subtle differences.
00:03:28.080 | But the roll results in an asymmetric.
00:03:30.840 | Like I'm losing, you're winning.
00:03:31.880 | Right.
00:03:32.920 | Feels like the hook is where...
00:03:33.960 | You get to stay in the match a little bit more.
00:03:36.160 | You stay in the match.
00:03:37.200 | You do, yeah.
00:03:38.240 | But a good arm wrestler
00:03:39.600 | isn't going to necessarily give you that.
00:03:42.240 | Like they're not,
00:03:44.440 | you don't see a lot of world class matches
00:03:46.880 | where the guy is just pressing.
00:03:48.960 | You don't see it.
00:03:50.080 | The controversial King's move. What is that?
00:03:51.480 | Okay. So the King's move is actually,
00:03:54.120 | it's a defensive move.
00:03:55.720 | Okay. So the only thing I'm trying to do
00:03:57.720 | when I King's move
00:03:58.760 | is I'm trying to attack your arm angle
00:04:02.160 | through dragging.
00:04:03.520 | Okay.
00:04:04.960 | And I'm trying to target your fingers
00:04:06.680 | through pronation.
00:04:07.720 | I'm trying to do all the other things as well.
00:04:09.560 | But these are my anchors.
00:04:10.800 | Okay. So I'll fight for all the other stuff
00:04:12.160 | but I'll give them away.
00:04:13.200 | This is the one that I hold.
00:04:14.880 | So I will turn.
00:04:16.720 | Right. And a lot of times there's a dipping.
00:04:19.240 | Okay.
00:04:20.880 | So you're pulling also.
00:04:22.440 | Am I, are you like basically
00:04:24.360 | pulling me towards you?
00:04:25.440 | I'll try.
00:04:26.440 | But I may not be able to.
00:04:28.120 | So normally a King's move
00:04:30.800 | is used against a very strong opponent.
00:04:32.440 | The King's move is throwing a big wrench
00:04:34.960 | into the sport.
00:04:37.040 | But this has been happening
00:04:39.920 | a lot as the sport evolves.
00:04:41.240 | The King's move is here to stay.
00:04:42.480 | Where do the injuries come from?
00:04:44.160 | Right here.
00:04:45.200 | That's the one.
00:04:46.240 | The bad one is the break.
00:04:47.920 | Is the break.
00:04:49.240 | Of what?
00:04:50.280 | Humerus.
00:04:51.720 | Oh wow.
00:04:52.760 | Right here.
00:04:53.800 | So literally break your arm.
00:04:54.880 | Past your frame man.
00:04:55.880 | We are, we're like
00:04:56.920 | [imitates breaking]
00:04:57.960 | So not a bicep tear.
00:04:59.000 | Not.
00:05:00.040 | It can happen. Bicep tears can happen.
00:05:02.080 | I'd say that the break
00:05:04.040 | is the one that's.
00:05:05.400 | It's a literal arm break.
00:05:06.440 | Oh yeah.
00:05:07.480 | And when it goes it's like.
00:05:08.920 | [smack]
00:05:09.960 | Yep.
00:05:11.000 | Wow.
00:05:13.400 | The strongest arm I've ever felt in my life.
00:05:15.440 | [laughter]
00:05:16.480 | And he's not even trying.
00:05:17.520 | I'm very specialized.
00:05:18.920 | I'm a super specialized athlete.
00:05:20.840 | Ladies and gentlemen.
00:05:22.200 | Devon Larratt.
00:05:23.240 | This is a huge honor.
00:05:24.320 | Me too.
00:05:25.320 | [cheering]
00:05:26.360 | You got it.
00:05:27.400 | Right there.
00:05:28.440 | Come on.
00:05:29.480 | You got it.
00:05:30.520 | Yeah.
00:05:31.560 | You got it.
00:05:32.600 | Go.
00:05:33.640 | Go.
00:05:34.680 | Go.
00:05:35.720 | Yeah.
00:05:36.760 | [cheering]
00:05:38.600 | [cheering]
00:05:39.600 | [cheering]
00:05:40.600 | [cheering]
00:05:41.600 | [cheering]
00:05:42.600 | [cheering]
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